Heat Pump Installation in Laredo, TX
A new system here will heat from December through February and cool from March through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Webb County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months a year of work for your heat pump
In Laredo, your heat pump only gets a break for a few weeks each year. Winter is short and mild, with nights averaging 47°F from December through February, but summer runs long. Afternoons average 98°F from March through October, eight months of cooling with barely a pause before the next season starts.
That load falls on the compressor for most of the year, not just the hot months. Any new system installed has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, but in Webb County the cooling side is what earns its keep. Wind is the bigger risk to plan around here. Webb County recorded 31 damaging wind events over the past ten years against 2 winter storms, and with 85% of homes here heating with electricity, a heat pump that keeps running through a power blip matters more than one built mainly for cold nights.
- 3 months
- December through February, your system heats
- 8 months
- March through October, it cools
- 47°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 98°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Texas licenses the contractor, not the job. TDLR tests and records the person or business taking on the work, so the credential follows them from one house to the next rather than getting renewed for each install.
That license is what backs the contractor's qualification for this heat pump install. In most cities and counties, the work still needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once it's done, and that inspection is what checks the installation itself in your home, separate from what the state license already covers.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- For most homes here, yes. A heat pump cools your home in summer and heats it in winter, using the same unit and the same electricity. A furnace only heats, and it needs gas piped to the house. Laredo needs cooling eight months a year and heat for only three, so a machine built to do both jobs suits the climate better than one that only handles the short winter. Winter nights average 47°F here, mild enough that a heat pump is not working hard to keep a home warm.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only moves heat out of your house. A heat pump can run that same cycle in reverse, pulling heat from the outside air and moving it inside, so it heats in winter and cools in summer using one unit. In cooling mode the two work the same way. What sets a heat pump apart is the reversing valve that lets it switch direction.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump pulls heat from the outside air even when that air feels cold, and it keeps working as long as there is heat left in the air to move. That holds true well below freezing. Laredo's winter nights average 47°F, mild for this kind of system, so a properly sized heat pump has no trouble keeping a home warm through December, January and February.